The Cessna C180 float plane flipped over around 1:45 p.m., according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

Mike Hoffman, the only person on board the plane, wasn't injured.

The plane was towed to shore, and officials said there was no leakage from the aircraft. Emerson Aviation used a crane to remove the plane from the lake. It's the third time in the last five years they've recovered a plane from New Hampshire waters.

Briana Harvey saw the incident unfold right in view of her lakefront home and grabbed her camera, hoping to get a picture of the landing.

"It circled around and came down, and all of a sudden it looked like a normal landing and it literally just went overhead over tea kettle," she said.

It wasn't the picture-perfect landing she had seen the pilot perform dozens of times.

"I just so happened to take the photo and I just looked up and I went, 'Wait, that wasn't the landing.' It was just kind of sheer shock," Harvey said. "All of a sudden, we saw the pontoons just kind of sinking."

That's when she called 911. Her uncle ran to a boat to get to the sinking aircraft.

"We zoomed my camera in a lot and my mom grabbed binoculars, and we saw him between the two pontoons," Harvey said.

Hoffman was able to open the door after the cabin filled with water. He did not want to go on camera due to an investigation being conducted by the FAA.

His friends said he is a commercial pilot who has been flying for more than 50 years.